The Jurassic Book, Chapter six
Chapter six of The Jurassic Book. Plot The heroes flee from the Cold Lairs after a brush with a Saurornithoides and right now are putting some distance between themselves and the dinosaur, unknowingly separating from each other in the process. Mowgli, Alexander, Baloo, Sandah, Lala, Rusty and Kaa resort to climbing up a tree in the hopes they won't be found or reached (Kaa Baloo and Mowgli helping the wolves up), Kichi Grey and Marigold almost run into another Saurornithoides nearby, but hid before the dinosaur saw them, and it leaves. Bagheera, Sura, Maki, Jacala and Akru have gone off track and were now completely lost. "Everybody okay?" Baloo asks but sees eight characters are M.I.A., "wait, eight of us are missing" he exclaims, "guys over here" a voice calls and they see it was Kichi, "make that seven" Baloo corrected, "Kichi where are the others?" Mowgli asks, "Grey and Marigold are with me, they're on the ground right now, but that's about it" Kichi answers, "Marigold, Grey" Lala calls, "down here mom" Marigold answers and they see the two wolves, Kaa quickly gets them in the tree as Kichi meets them from the branches above, "okay, now that leaves us with only five unaccounted for" Baloo counts, "Bagheera, Sura" Mowgli calls but nobody answers, "guys there's something over here" Sandah says and they gather with him and see a dead wild-pig on the ground, "it's a hog" Kaa identifies, "hey, are you crazy? get outa here" Lala yells but the pig doesn't respond or move, "I think it's dead" Kichi suspects until the pig started moving, "oh my stars, no it's not" Grey discovers and rushes to try and help, "Grey wait a minute something doesn't feel right" Mowgli warns, "well we can't just leave it" Marigold argues as Grey tries to climb down, but one branch breaks and he falls, bouncing on branches until grabbing the lowest one, in that instant two Saurornithoides arrive as if anticipating this and leap at the young wolf in the hopes to eat him, luckily though Grey was saved, "they set a trap, they actually set a trap for us" Mowgli discerns, "and I thought humans were brainiacs" Lala notes, earning looks from Mowgli and Alex. Elsewhere Bagheera, Maki, Sura, Akru and Jacala were hiding in some bushes where they see two Saurornithoides surveying and talking to each other. "What are they doing?" Sura wonders, "I think they're looking for something" Bagheera theorizes, "wish I knew what they were saying" Akru laments as one Saurornithoides barks out, which was heard by the ones cornering Mowgli's group, one fallows it, but the other decides to eat the hog first, making Alex look away in disgust (and Baloo cover his eyes). Meanwhile Bagheera's group were hiding. The panther peaked out to see if anything was around, but there wasn't, so he withdraws, though he still felt they weren't alone, so he double-checks, only to meet a roaring mouth full of fangs, causing all of them to jump to their feet as the lone Saurornithoides approaches them, quickly being joined by another, then another, until eventually they were surrounded, but before the troodonts could attack, a new scary roar suddenly echoes, fallowed by a rattling tremor, spooking the Saurornithoides, "retreat, back to our master" one of them, a male who has a small scar on the left-side of his muzzle, commands and they leave, sparing the heroes for now, "I don't know what was scarier: the demonic-birds or that roaring earthquake?" Jacala wonders, "I don't know, but let's get outa here before something else shows up" Bagheera proposes and nobody argue, so they leave, 'til Maki realized something, "hey wait a minute" she suddenly says, "what is it Maki?" Akru asks, "those things, the one who talked said something about a master, what could that mean?" Maki recalls, "you're right, whatever it means, something tells me it isn't good" Bagheera suspects as they continue. Ten seconds after they moved off, footsteps were heard and a giant theropod-foot appears in the spot where Maki was standing. Meanwhile, Mowgli's group were settling down in the tree. Sunset was approaching and they didn't wanna take the chance of running into another dinosaur in the dark, so they've decided to spend the night in the tree, and find their friends in the morning. "Bagheera, Akru, Sura" Mowgli shouts hoping for some response, even attempting to contact them with animal sounds (wolf howls, elephant trumpets, etc.) yet received nothing, he climbs down from the very top of the tree and settles with everyone else, officially giving up, "still no answer?" Alex asks and Mowgli shook his head, "look Mowgli, whatever happened to them, it's not your fault" Sandah confides hoping to cheer Mowgli up, "I'm just sorry for dragging you all into this" Mowgli moans, "I'm not" Sandah jokes which did make Mowgli grin. As for Bagheera and his gang, they got lucky and bumped into some elephants associated with Hathi, and knew Council-Rock was near now, especially when Bacchus found them while on patrol and he quickly alerts everyone else. "Guys guys, some of them are back" he yells to everybody: Luri and Vermillion had been sick with worry when their grandkids spontaneously disappeared, but were glad to see Bagheera and co arrived, until they see some of the expected faces were absent, "where's Mowgli and the others?" Vermillion asks, "they're not here?" Bagheera gasps, "I thought they were with you" Luri recalls, "we got separated" Sura reveals, "yeah we were searching the cold lairs for whatever killed those humans, and some freaky-looking bird-thing attacked us, along with several more" Akru describes, "bird-thing?" Chil asks mildly offended, "well it had feathers like a bird, plus wicked toes that some birds-of-prey have" Jacala explains, "but also clawed-hands and jaws with sharp teeth" Maki adds, "that really does sound freaky" Mang comments, "you know, I heard of a group of predatory dinosaurs called raptors, like the birds of the same name they also have those foot-claws and feathers, but couldn't fly, they're also assumed to have lived in packs" Bagheera recalls, "that would've been good to know" Sura lectures on the last part, "should Mang and me go look for Mowgli?" Chil offers, "I'm not sure Chil, all these run-ins are getting more dangerous by the minute" Bagheera refutes, "but our kids are out there too, plus Baloo Kaa Sandah" Akru reminds and everybody weren't sure what to do, 'til Luri stood up, "Chil, Mang, you are permitted to look for Mowgli and the others, but don't go too far, and be sure to come back once the sun goes down" she requested, "got it" Chil obeys and flies off, "no problem" Mang adds and also flies off, seeing if they can locate Mowgli's group before dark. As for Mowgli's group, they were safe for the moment. They had moved to the top-most part of the tree where they were sure nothing can reach them, and were currently discussing about the Saurornithoides. "I remember looking at a group of dinosaurs called maniraptorans: one group was known as raptors, like the birds-of-prey" Mowgli recalls, "yikes, Chil will never live this down" Lala comments, "and like the birds they and another group called troodontids had those flexible toe-claws and feathers, the only differences are their hands and jaws, and that they can't fly" Mowgli continues, "well that's good news" Grey expressed 'til he saw something in the distance, "hey what are those?" he asks pointing and they see a few Titanosaurus foraging, "hey, those are another kind of dinosaur" Mowgli identifies, "how many kinds are there?" Baloo asks, "a lot, these I recall are called sauropods: they tend to be huge and have long necks, one group I recall even had armor like crocodiles" Mowgli identifies, "are they, dangerous?" Alex wonders, "no, they don't eat meat at all, so we might be able to befriend one" Mowgli answers and gets an idea: putting his hands together on his mouth, he attempts to mimic their bellows in the hopes to communicate with them, and while it wasn't exact, the titanosaurs do respond: more little heads on long necks stick out of the canopy of trees and all look in Mowgli's direction, much to Marigold's alarm, "uh uncle Mowgli, I don't think attracting them is a good idea" she warns, "it's alright Marigold: remember? I said they don't eat meat at all; they're herbivores" Mowgli calms, "that means they only eat fruit and vegetables" Rusty teases, "well I hate the predatory ones" Marigold expresses as they all get settled for the night, "hey dad?" Alex peeps, "yes Alex?" Mowgli replies, "what should we do if a dinosaur or something shows up while we're asleep?" Alex asks, "well, I'll keep watch" Mowgli assures, "all night?" Alex presses, "all night" Mowgli answers and they all fell asleep. Stay tuned for The Jurassic Book, Chapter seven Gallery Category:Fanfiction